Melinda worked with Dave Bourland at Bowsher High School. She completed a Master's
degree in Environmental Geology and a thesis that involved mapping the surficial geology
of the Oak Openings Region and work towards reconstructing the geologic chronology
of the region under the direction of Dr. Timothy Fisher and Dr. James Martin-Hayden.
Her career goals in general are to use geologic knowledge to improve the human relationship
with the environment through education with a focus in geologic mapping. Currently
Melinda is working as a Wetlands Geologist with the Illinois State Survey.

Olga Mileyeva-Biebesheimer, EngineeringGK-12 Fellow 2008-2009

Olga worked with Michelle Bogue at Sylvania Northview High School. She has relocated
to Washington D.C. and is working on completing her Ph.D. dissertation on several
environmental problems including developing a membrane-based sensor for selected bacteria
in drinking water, monitoring levels of the algal toxin microcystin in Lake Erie,
and determining the fate and toxicity of nanoparticles commonly found in personal
care products in the environment under the direction of Cyndee Gruden.

JoAnn became interested in the Great Lakes while earning her Bachelor's Degree in
Environmental Science at Bowling Green State University. During a summer internship
with United States Geological Survey (USGS) in Sandusky, Ohio, she realized she would
like to work with fish. She was was introduced to genetics and her current research
while participating in the National Science Foundation Research Experience for undergraduates
in Dr. Carol Stepien’s Great Lakes Genetics Laboratory. Her Master’s research is
looking at the temporal and spatial genetic patterns among Lake Erie Walleye spawning
groups. She extracts DNA from a small piece of fin, amplify segments of nuclear DNA
called microsatellite loci using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), and uses genetic
software to analyze allele frequencies and detect patterns. JoAnn is currently completing
an internship in Ann Arbor Michigan while completing her thesis writing.

Kris' research areas include restoration ecology, phytoremediation, and environmental
engineering. Specifically, he is interested in using native plants to facilitate the
remediation and restoration of contaminated sites, such as brownfields, landfills,
and old dumps. He recently defended his dissertation, which focused on designing a
final cover system for a local inactive landfill that utilizes sediment dredged from
the Maumee River/Lake Erie shipping channel and plant species that are native to the
Oak Openings Region in northwest Ohio. For Kris the GK-12 program was a great experience
that had a positive impact on his life. He feels very fortunate to have worked with
a teacher that he viewed as a role model. By interacting with students several times
a week, Kris enhanced his teaching and communication skills as well as gained an appreciation
for the students. The major highlight of the program was working with two senior students
as research interns. For the first time in their lives, they conducted science experiments
and made powerpoint and poster presentations to audiences outside the classroom. Kris
encourages the new group of fellows to improve the program’s success and hope that
in the future more local schools will be involved.

Betsy's research interests and experiences in aquatic ecology cover a wide spectrum. She
received a B.S. in Biology from Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania. In December
2007, she received a M.S. from the University of Toledo, where she studied how wetlands
effect the downstream dispersal of zebra mussels. Betsy then continued her education
at The Univesity of Toledo in pursuit of a Ph.D. with Dr. Thomas Bridgeman. For her
dissertation she is examining how Lake Erie hypoxia (a.k.a. the “dead zone”) affects
(physiologically and behaviorally) benthic foraging fish (e.g. Yellow Perch) and benthic
dwelling invertebrates (e.g. Hexagenia mayfly larvae). Betsy appreciated the opportunity
to be involved with the GK-12 program and have the opportunity to share, and hopefully,
spread her interest and knowledge of not just aquatic ecosystems, but nature in general
to high school students. She feels educating future generations is imperative to the
preservation our environment.

Todd's doctoral research interests involve assemblage, niche and interspecific interactions
in North American lotic aquatic systems (specifically fish and Unionid mussels). He
also has a keen interest in aquatic zoogeography, in particular, using phylogeography
to reconstruct Pleistocene/Holocene refugia and range recovery in glaciated landscapes.
Todd's time in the GK-12 program has steered his career goals towards education. He feels
more apt to seek a position teaching ecology where he is encouraged to work directly
with the institution's Department of Education, rather than a position with a focus
on ecological research. Todd feels that our society is completely unaware of the
interconnectedness of nature, human-derived breaks in those connections, and how this
relates to the ultimate success or failure of the human species. Thus, it is his
career goal to instill a basic sense of local natural history and its interpretation
in future generations, and that teachers are the most capable group to disperse that
information. Todd is the founding member and president of the Toledo Chapter of Wild
Ones, a national organization that promotes the use of native plants as a landscaping
alternative. Todd has created his own website, http://www.farmertodd.com.

Kristen completed her Bachelor's degree at Ohio Wesleyan University and then worked
as a research technician at the Kellogg Biological Field Station before joining Dr.
Christine Mayer's Benthic Ecology lab. Kristen completed a Master's degree studying the interactions between burrowing mayflies (Hexagenia limbata and H. rigida), and invasive zebra and quagga mussels (Dreissena polymorpha and D. bugensis respectively). Her dissertation work builds on her Master’s thesis and she is examining
whether Hexagenia derive protection from fish predation in Dreissena clusters and if short periods of hypoxia, which often develop in Lake Erie and other
productive lakes, interfere with this relationship and force Hexagenia out of Dreissena-cluster habitat to seek well-oxygenated waters. Kristen was very excited about being
a graduate fellow in the GK-12 program and having the opportunity to communicate her
love of science and the environment to current high school students. One of her future
goals is to conduct research that will make a difference in the field of freshwater
aquatic ecology and to become involved in public outreach programs that teach the
public about the economic, environmental, and societal importance of healthy freshwater
ecosystems.She feels that being a fellow in the GK-12 program gave her many of the skills needed
to achieve these goals.

Collen received a B.S. in Bioengineering in 2006 and a M.S. in Chemical Engineering
in 2008, both from the University of Toledo. She completed her Master’s thesis, under
the guidance of Dr. Isabel Escobar in Chemical Engineering and Dr. Cyndee Gruden in
Civil Engineering, studying the modification of cellulose acetate ultrafiltration
membranes with a temperature-sensitive polymer film. The idea was to create a dynamic
surface on the membrane that reduces biofouling. Colleen remained under the direction of Drs. Escobar and Gruden and is pursuing a
Ph.D. in the Chemical Engineering program by doing more research in membrane modification. Her
research involves post-synthesis modification of water filtration membranes. She works
with the temperature sensitive polymer N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAM). Novel heating
mechanisms such as RF heating using iron nanoparticles and ultrasound are being explored.

Amanda received her Master’s degree from the University of Toledo in December of 2007
and continued on for a Ph.D. in Dr. Carol Stepien’s laboratory. Her dissertation research
focuses on Lake Erie walleye (Sander vitreus), an important commercial fishery species. She is using archived scale samples to
compare the genetic variation of walleye in Lake Erie over the past 50 years. She
is also looking at the genus Sander and comparing morphological characters and molecular data to determine the systematic
relationships among the species. For her GK-12 experience, Amanda was paired with
Mr. Timothy Bollin at the Toledo Early College High School where they co-instructed
a Science Research course focused on water quality. Through her participation in the
GK-12 program, Amanda noticed an improvement in her public speaking skills and also
in her ability to communicate her scientific results to a much broader audience.

Jhonatan received a B.S. in Aquacultural Engineering from the Universidad Autonoma
de Guadalajara, and a M.S. in Biology from Central Michigan University. His previous
academic research has included Nutritional efficiency on freshwater crustaceans, developmental
biology of marine shrimp, and proteomic research. An aquatic enthusiast at heart, Jhonatan
joined Dr. Carol Stepien's Great Lakes Genetics Laboratory to focus on yellow perch
and percid population genetics and stock assessments for the Great Lakes, particularly
Lake Erie and its tributaries. During his participation in the NSF GK-12 program,
he learned how to best approach and relate to the lay audience, and how to effectively
teach scientific concepts in a manner that is easy to understand, and relevant to
the day-to-day life of students and teachers. Working with Wendy Wilson at Start High
School, Jhonatan notes that enthusiasm for science-based careers increased in the
participating classes, the Ohio Graduation Test scores for 10th grade science for
2008 were the best in three years, and they had their first ever participation in
district and state science day competitions. He leaves the NSF GK-12 program with
a greater appreciation of the effort and knowledge necessary to teach future generations
to be stewards of our environment.

Todd received a B.S. in Environmental Geology from the University of Dayton, an M.S.
in Environmental Geology from the University of Akron, and is finishing up a Ph.D.
in Geology from the University of Kentucky. His research in graduate school focused
on aqueous geochemistry. For five years, he taught a wide range of science courses
at St. John's Jesuit High School for five years. His students monitored a wetland
located on the SJJ property looking for variations in conductivity as an indicator
of road salt contamination. Todd used these studiesto increase student awareness of
local water quality issues that impact their community. Todd recently left St. John's
and the GK-12 program to pursue an enviornmental consulting job in the state of Washington.

Jahnine earned a B.S. in Biology from Cleveland State University. She taught junior
high school students for 11 years before switching to high school. Her goal is to
get students to realize their relationship with nature as a whole. This is somewhat
hard for urban students who do not generally have any experience with nature In 2006, she
finished a Master's degree in Curriculum and Instruction from BGSU. In her two years
in the GK-12 program, Jahnine notes that the thing that helped her classroom the most
was the exposure to some one who looks and acts like an ordinary person, but is a
scientist. She adds that high school students often think that all scientists are
“geeky”, but they really related to graduate fellow (Todd Crail). Jahnine especially
loved having a graduate fellow with whom she could exchange ideas with for the classroom
as well as someone current in Environmental Science. Jahnine left the GK-12 program
to allow more time to complete her Master's degree in Biology with an emphasis on
Ecology through the IMPACT program, a U.S. Department of Education Program housed
at the University of Toledo.